New Alliances for the Cultural Creative Industries

                 Among the highlights of the 2018 Forum is the development of a new partnership with the European Startup Network. Both partners very positively value this new cooperation form, which is aimed to result on the elaboration of a White paper on CCI and Startups. In the words of Karen Boers, President of the network and Co-founder and Managing Director of startups.be, “The synergies between technological innovation and creative industries are obvious – from gamification of educational tools and unobtrusive design of home care solutions to fashion tech and wearables. We are therefore very happy that ECBN and European Startup Network will join forces to bring the best of both worlds together to drive innovation in the digital age”. During the meeting, Boers delivered a presentation on this issue: “Creative Industries X Digital Tech”.

The Summer Academy on Cultural and Creative Industries and Local Development was also presented on the occasion of the ECBN Member Forum 2018. This event  – a three-year project, whose first edition will take place on the 11-15 June 2018 in Trento and Bolzano, Italy – builds on the idea of cultural creative industries as drivers for innovation in skills and governance in public administration. The Summer Academy is organised by the OECD LEED Centre of Trento for Local Development in collaboration with tsm – Trentino School of Management, the European Creative Business Network (ECBN) and Centro Servizi Cultura e Volontariato (CSCV), with the support of the Department of Italian culture (Youth Policies Unit) – Autonomous Province of Bolzano (Italy) and the Department for Cultural Activities of the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italy).

The ECBN Member Forum 2018 also counted on the participation of Prof. Pier Luigi Sacco, Special Adviser to the European Commission in the field of Cultural Heritage. In his intervention, Prof. Sacco advocating for “a re-thinking of Culture Heritage, to make it an inspirational and innovative tool for the future of society”, and argued that “inclusive and digital technology enable an open culture between tradition and modernism”. Inspired by the cooperation with Prof. Sacco, ECBN will conduct in the upcoming months a Preliminary Mapping of Cultural and Creative Innovation in Cultural Heritage.

Bernd Fesel, Director of ECBN, concluded: “The Cultural Creative Industries in Europe face multiple challenges in the digital tech revolution, in the startups trend as well as in the rethinking of Europes heritage and identity. Also new policies for FP9 are in the making. Today ECBN leads the way to new partnerships and policies to foster the future of cultural creative entrepreneurs in Europe.”

With ECBN representing 45 funding agencies in 21 nations and 70% for the workforce in CCIs in Europe, the Members Forum consolidates as an excellent opportunity to develop new alliances and plan together on the most suitable means to tackle the top challenges faced by the sector.

The host of the ECBN members meeting, Lab North, is a network of actors collaborating on the different projects of the association Up4North to revitalize Brussels North District. Lab North is located in Brussels World Trade Center.